Back in the ‘90s, there was a pop band called Jive Bunny and The Master Mixers. It took samples of popular tunes from back in the day and remixed them into something familiar yet different. The lack of originality caused some to voice their firm dislike of the Rotherham-based DJs, but they’re still around today. Terminator Genisys does a very similar thing with the Terminator franchise; it takes all the cool ideas from the previous movies and remixes them into something different. Much like Jive Bunny, however, it fails to bring anything original to the mix and the result is decidedly forgettable.
Terminator Genisys is a reboot of the franchise of sorts. Time travelling hi-jinks have rewritten history, effectively undoing all the action from the previous movies. Instead, Sarah Connor has been raised by an ageing Terminator (played by Schwarzenegger) whom she calls ‘pops’. We get some nice scenes because of this, as it basically flips the central story of the first Terminator on its head – this is a movie were Sarah Connor saves Kyle Reese with the help of Terminator.
With the exception of Schwarzenegger, none of the actors seem into the movie at all. Matt Smith, who plays the embodiment of Skynet, might be, but who can say as he’s in the entire thing for less than a minute. Arnie knows the score by now, though the best scene in the entire movie is one where he fights a younger version of himself. It’s too short, unfortunately.
As per usual, we get short-changed on the DVD release. There’s a small feature with the actors being terribly excited by the prospect of being in a huge franchise, and not much else. Emilia Clarke is quite charming in it, but at the same time we’re reminded that she doesn’t have the same presence as Linda Hamilton (from the original movies) or Lena Headey (from the TV series). The Blu-ray has a few more pieces on the VFX and movie creation, but nothing that special. There’s also no reason why they aren’t on the DVD except to make you buy a Blu-ray player.
Terminator Genisys is a lacklustre remix of a classic. There are some nice ideas in here, but those are mostly echoes of a much more glorious past. Be thankful that they’ve announced that they are ‘readjusting’ the franchise, because this sad remix needs someone to go back in time in order to fix it.
TERMINATOR GENISYS / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ALAN TAYLOR / SCREENPLAY: LAETA KALOGRIDIS, PATRICK LUSSIER / STARRING: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, EMILIA CLARKE, JAI COURTNEY, JASON CLARKE, MATT SMITH / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 2ND
